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an inventory of myths or folk tales that focus on the morphological features of
prominent plants or animals in their environment—‘How the peacock got its tail’,
or ‘Why the cockatoo is white’, for instance. The only such story that we have come
across in Solega is the incident of the elephant and the quail mentioned above. Some
Solega have mentioned that the slender curved beak of the moḍemoka ‘ Hoopoe ’ is
indicative of how this bird originated from members of the cama:r ‘leather tanner’
caste, who routinely use similarly shaped needles. Moreover, the items of folklore
in the ‘useful signals’ category have, as their referents, not the appearance of a bird
in the B. R. Hills forests (indeed, the annual arrival of the migratory kokkore is not
mentioned in any Solega folktale), but the vocalisations of certain species.
Evidence from other biological domains supports the view that meaningful sig-
nals and interactions—real or potential—are highly salient to the Solega. The call-
ing of a lizard confi rms the occurrence of a bad event: if one is talking about the
possibility of bad weather, or a bad harvest, and the lizard calls at the same time,
then it is a confi rmation of that event occurring in the future. The mass chirping of
cicadas is a predictor of rain (as in many cultures, the connection between heavy
rain and the croaking of frogs is also noted by the Solega), and if a dog is seen bark-
ing for no apparent reason, there could be a daiyya ‘bad spirit’ nearby. Here, it is
noteworthy that reptiles, amphibians and insects (with the exception of biting ants
and the honey -producing bees) do not otherwise fi gure in Solega folklore. The
vocalisations of elephants are also lexicalized as ideophones in Solega, as knowl-
edge of these sounds is invaluable in allowing individuals to avoid these potentially
dangerous and unpredictable beasts. The Solega elephant sound inventory includes
snorting and trumpeting sounds, as well as the sounds of an elephant fl apping its
ears, or passing copious amounts of urine.
Bulmer [ 173 ] has noted that the bird classifi cation of the Kalam of the New
Guinea Highlands is infl uenced by ritual or mystical signifi cance (e.g. as totems or
omens), utilitarian value (as a source of food or feathers) and perceptual salience
(large size and bright colours ). In addition, Bulmer points out that “ the way in which
birds ... interact spontaneously with man, or are interpreted as doing so ” also
underlies Kalam discrimination and evaluation of birds (p. 65). Our work with the
Solega strongly suggests that they too name and talk about some birds not merely
because they are large, common or colourful, but also because they perceive these
birds to be a source of meaningful signals or interactions. This may include signals
that are received by humans (e.g. in the case of the woodpeckers ) or interactions that
involve divine beings (e.g. the Emerald Pigeon ), other animals (e.g. the quail ) or
humans (e.g. parrots as agricultural pests). In some instances, the fl ow of informa-
tion is bi-directional: the puff-throated babbler, the crow and the hawk-cuckoo are
said to signal the breaking of moral codes of conduct by humans after having wit-
nessed the acts themselves. In the case of the owl , the interaction is a potential one,
as sighting this bird at night is something to be avoided. In contrast to the broad defi -
nition of cultural/utilitarian signifi cance used by Bulmer and by our own study on
Solega ethno-ornithology, Berlin [9], trying to downplay the importance of cultural/
utilitarian signifi cance, limits his defi nition to species that are eaten by humans:
4 Solega Ethno-ornithology